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Batfleckgate gets a local twist, as Boca woman founds a petition of her own

Since Ben Affleck’s casting as Batman in the upcoming “Man of Steel” sequel, there’s been online insanity both protesting and defending the Oscar winner’s future donning of the cape and cowl, and various and sundry petitions on Change.org, mostly trying to urge Warner Bros. to fire Affleck and hire someone else. Anyone, really.

I’ve been pretty vocal about my feeling that fans, whose fervor and devotion to a character they may have loved since their childhood is admirable and understandable, should nonetheless give Affleck a chance and stop holding “Daredevil” against him. Also, it’s rude to try to get somebody fired. He’s not being elected president. He’s not been given permission to lead the country’s nuclear programs. He’s a (celebrated) actor and filmmaker who will be acting in a film, which is his job. (And as a writer who over the last 20 years have had people publicly calling for my firing, sometimes because I made a mistake, but usually because they just didn’t agree with my opinion of a TV show or an album, I feel for him.)

You know who else has strong feelings about this? Boca Raton’s Katie Cullen, who Tweeted me yesterday that she’d started her own Change.org petition, to stop original anti-Affleck petitioner John Roden, who so far has tens of thousands of signatures. Her official statement is that “his petition is a frivolous use of the resources of Change.org, and more importantly, he is seeking to interfere with an individual’s legal right to earn income in his chosen profession.”

Cullen, a 52-year-old executive assistant in mergers & acquisitions for a publicly traded telecommunications company and single mom, has been a part of several Change.org petitions and campaigns over the years, concerning “equal rights, equal pay, the shaming of big banks and insurance companies who prey on their unsuspecting customers, bullying, and basically individuals who are fighting for their rights and freedoms,” she says. “I value the role that Change.org plays and the resources it provides for the common man and woman. Those who feel that they have no voice and no way to reach other like-minded folks. Those like me, who do to my solo parent status have less freedom to hop on a plane to Washington, DC to take part in the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights March on Washington, or take the time off from work to protest in Tallahassee or attend local campaign rallies. Most of my activism must and does occur online, much to the chagrin of my Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr friends.”

Because of that, Cullen, who has also become part of an online community through Facebook of writers and poets who use their talents to benefit anti-child abuse organization Child Helpline International, thinks that using the resources of such a powerful engine to protest an actor’s casting as “an sbuse,” and as an attempt to prevent a stranger from working. So far she’s only gotten 15 or so signatures, but she’s hopeful that she can get people thinking.

She ended her email to me with a quote from a Batman comic: Batman #625 (2004) by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso:

Batman: “And as the sun, that had been too afraid to show its face in this city, started to turn the black into grey, I smiled. Not out of happiness. But because I knew… that one day, I wouldn’t have to do this anymore. One day, I could stop fighting. Because one day… I would win. One day, there will be no pain, no loss, no crime. Because of me, because I fight. For you. One day, I will win.”